Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

Last week, College Football 26 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 led cross-platform downloads across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, driven largely by early access offers and subscription-based access. Meanwhile, Steam saw strong sales numbers from indie successes like PEAK and R.E.P.O, with additional spikes fueled by significant discounts on popular titles.

College Football 26

According to Alinea Analytics, EA Sports College Football 26 dominated downloads last week, registering 1.9 million unique downloads across platforms. Launched on July 10 (or July 7 for those who purchased MVP or Deluxe editions), the game performed especially well on Xbox, which accounted for twice as many downloads as PlayStation. This skew is attributed to the 10-hour EA Play trial available through Game Pass Ultimate.

On PS5, the game attracted one million players, 97% of whom are U.S.-based. A noteworthy insight shows 95% of PS5 players also played College Football 25, and 67% had played Madden 25, suggesting a distinct audience preference for college football-themed titles over traditional NFL sports games.

Despite high player engagement, College Football 26 is currently selling at roughly one-third the rate of its predecessor on PS5. This is likely due to last year’s pent-up demand following a long hiatus in the franchise. A sales boost is expected as the NCAA season begins next month.

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

Released on July 11 (or July 9 for early access buyers), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 garnered 1.2 million downloads last week, with 69% coming from Xbox platforms. As a first-party title, it launched on Game Pass Ultimate, significantly bolstering its reach.

Sales figures show over 100,000 copies sold across PlayStation and Steam, with PlayStation accounting for more than 85%. The title generated an estimated $3.2 million in revenue. On PlayStation, 77% of players had also played THPS 1+2, highlighting sustained interest in the franchise.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads

The co-op climbing game PEAK claimed the third spot in downloads, surpassing one million downloads last week. Its growing popularity is matched by strong sales performance on Steam.

Cyberpunk 2077 came in fourth, driven by its inclusion in the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers starting June 9. Of its 765,000 total downloads, 83% came from PlayStation users. A concurrent Steam sale lowered its price to $21, its lowest ever, prompting over 120,000 downloads. Cyberpunk 2077 has now surpassed 16.4 million copies sold on Steam alone.

At fifth place, Mecha Break, a free-to-play PvP mech title from Seasun Games, logged 668,000 downloads. Steam accounted for 533,000 of these, with China and the U.S. as its top markets. The title has 1.7 million players on Steam and 600,000 on Xbox, though player engagement is declining.

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

Steam’s Top Games by Sales

PEAK also topped Steam’s copies sold chart, adding one million units last week and reaching 5.6 million total sales. Revenue from the game has exceeded $31 million, and while daily sales are gradually slowing, a future discount could trigger another sales surge. Other high performers included:

Jurassic World Evolution 2 (#2): Nearly 300,000 copies sold following a -95% discount, aligned with new film promotions and anticipation for Jurassic World Evolution 3.
Sons of the Forest (#3): Sold 292,000 copies after dropping its price to $10. It has now sold 13.9 million units on Steam.
R.E.P.O (#4): An indie horror success, selling another 278,000 copies last week. It has crossed 16 million lifetime sales, the highest for any Steam title in 2024.
Stardew Valley (#5): Benefited from a 50% discount, selling 277,000 copies last week and 1.2 million since early June.

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

RimWorld’s Odyssey DLC

Ludeon Studios’ colony simulation game RimWorld saw a major boost with the launch of its Odyssey DLC on July 11. The DLC sold 206,000 copies in its debut week and has now surpassed 250,000 units sold, generating about $5 million in revenue.

The base game has sold over 5 million copies, earning more than $130 million on Steam. Odyssey is outperforming prior expansions Anomaly and BioTech, particularly in the U.S., Russia, and China. The DLC also drove RimWorld’s highest concurrent user count to date, nearing 95,000 players at peak times.

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

Steam’s Discount-Driven Sales

Rounding out the Steam top 10 by units sold are titles that capitalized on deep discounts:

Little Nightmares II (#7): Sold 172,000 copies at a $3 price point, its lowest ever. The timing coincided with promotional events for Little Nightmares III, boosting visibility and wishlists.
House Flipper (#8): Sold 140,000 units after a discount from $25 to $2.
Besieged (#9): Added 139,000 sales thanks to a -90% price cut, with strong interest from China.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (#10): Moved 134,000 copies during a $4 sale. The title’s community remains active, with hopes for a sequel reportedly growing.

Steam’s Top Games by Downloads and Sales

Final Notes

Last week highlighted significant movement across platforms, with subscription services, deep discounts, and franchise loyalty playing critical roles in driving downloads and sales. Whether through first-party Game Pass launches or aggressive Steam promotions, publishers and developers continue to explore diverse strategies to maximize engagement.

As the industry gears up for the fall release calendar and major live sports seasons, more shifts in both player behavior and sales performance are expected. Here is the list of all the games mentioned: